Dear Dr. O'Neill: I am an administrator responsible for several departments in our company. Meetings with the department heads have lots of squabbling and finger-pointing, especially when we review the progress, or lack thereof, on a major project that's been an embarrassment to me and my boss. One of the heads is particularly combative and I'm trying to decide whether to fire her to stop the arguing and to light a fire under everyone else and their teams. To complicate the decision, she's been an excellent team member sometimes and would be difficult to replace. How can I end the squabbling and get the job done? - Frustrated Manager

Dear Frustrated: When a project is going down in flames it's frustrating for everyone and tempting to manage the frustration by locating the problem in one individual, then giving that person the axe. But ... a project failure in an organization is much more likely the result of an overall organizational issue. If you imagine a person body surfing on the hands of a crowd you will get a sense of what I mean -- the body-surfer is highly visible but that person's "behavior" and direction are almost completely under the control of the crowd and its dynamics. The crowd even "chooses" who should surf when.

Organizational conflict often results from a lack of clarity about three issues: responsibility, authority and accountability -- who in the crowd has the responsibility for what aspects of the job, who has the authority to do what and who is accountable to whom for what they are responsible for doing. Lack of clarity boosts frustration, and when frustration is high, as on a failing project, the group and individual dynamics of managing frustration emerge with everyone's worst personal behavior popping to discharge the unpleasant frustration.

Instead of managing your frustration by firing an individual, you might work with the department heads as a group to clarify who is responsible for what aspects of the project, to whom you are delegating authority and resources, and who is accountable to whom. Clarifying will reduce frustration for everyone and the personal smoke in your professional brains should clear. Next, as a group, you might find the real problem, and what resources might solve it.

In the meantime, keep your head down, just in case your boss is also thinking the surfer is responsible for the wave.